FORT WORTH – When it comes to reporting on NASCAR and IndyCar Series races from pit road, there is no one more passionate about her work than ESPN television reporter Jamie Little.

In a sport that has often been dominated by men, Little has defied the odds and has become a pioneer in the sport of television broadcasting by being one of the first female reporters to cover auto racing for ESPN television.

“I’ve always loved it,” Jamie Little said during a recent interview at Texas Motor Speedway. “I was raised as an only child by a single mom, so to me I never saw anything that said you can’t do it because you’re a girl. I just never had that mentality. I started learning early on that there is an upside to being the first women to do things or to be the only female or one of the few women out there to do something that hasn’t been done before.”

Jamie Little is one of the pit reporters for ESPN. She can be seen covering NASCAR Nationwide Series and NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races. (Photo by Mark Broughton / bam photo)

Little added, “There is a lot of upside to it, so you have to embrace it, but at the same time you have to be really strong and have really thick skin. You have to pay your dues and getting the respect that the guys have naturally in a sport like this takes longer. I definitely think that you are looked at through a thicker magnifying glass when you first come in.”

After graduating from Green Valley High School in Las Vegas in 1996, Little started to pursue a career in television journalism. She received a liberal arts associate’s degree from Mesa College in 1999 and then earned her bachelor’s degree in journalism from San Diego State University in 2001. Shortly after that, she began working for ESPN in 2002.

“Literally every day I realize that I have the coolest job” Little said. “I am right where I want to be and there is no better time than now to think about what I want to do in the future and whether or not I want to cover anything else. The answer always comes back to me saying that I don’t think so, because this is what I always have wanted to do.”

Little added, “People always ask me when I am going to start covering Monday Night Football and I say that covering the Sprint Cup Series during the championship run of the Chase is my Monday night football.”

Little said that being a pit reporter and covering the NASCAR Nationwide Series and Sprint Cup Series for ESPN is no easy task, mainly due to the travel schedule and the amount of time it takes to complete a television broadcast.

Jamie Little and her production crew work up and down pit road during the recent NASCAR Nationwide Series race at Texas Motor Speedway. (Photo by Mark Broughton / bam photo)

“There is a lot of work that goes into it and the stress of doing this job when you do it nine months out of the year,” Little said. “It’s a lot of work, but when you have friends on the road and you get used to the way things are done and how to get your work done, it gets a lot easier.”

Each week during the nine-month NASCAR season, Little travels from her home in Las Vegas and spends countless hours on airplanes and in airports trying to get to the races across the country. Due to her hectic travel schedule, her son and husband are often not able to travel with her.

“Becoming a wife was the best thing that ever happened to me and now having a child is now the best thing that has happen,” Little said. “It gives me more reason just for being me and I think it makes me appreciate my job more. I appreciate it more because I know now that I have to support a child.”

Jamie Little takes notes while listening to the scanner during the NASCAR Nationwide Series race at Texas Motor Speedway two weeks ago. (Photo by Mark Broughton / bam photo)

Little added, “It is so neat that it puts you on another level with the drivers who are also parents. Most of them are parents, so we can relate. This is such a family-oriented sport and a lot of them know my husband, so it has been special.”

During a race broadcast, most fans are unaware of all the behind-the-scenes work that goes into producing a show for live television. Little describes the action as controlled chaos.

“There is so much going on during a race broadcast,” Little said. “There are so many voices going on in your headset. I have a scanner, so I’m scanning all of the driver’s channels. Plus I have a pit spotter who is getting information and writing me notes and then I have producers talking in my ear. I also have the broadcast in my ear so I know what is being said on the air so we can add to it.”

Little said that she is great at multitasking and often takes it to a new level on race weekends.

“You learn to be a self producer,” Little said. “You really have to because nobody has a chance to know what she is exactly going to say when you come on the air. It is really interesting because to me you get so focused at singling out voices and hearing things certain ways that it is almost like I’m ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder) afterwards.”

Little added, “When I’m in my normal life, I need like constant things going on. I do too many things at once. I like having a lot of things to think about. It’s definitely unique and it takes a lot of getting used to, but it is second nature when you do so many races and that is the benefit when you work as much as we do.”

In addition to covering NASCAR and the IndyCar Series, Little has also covered several events at the Summer and Winter X Games, including skiing, snowboarding and various other competitions. During her career, if a sport had a motor and you could race with it, Little has probably covered it.

“I appreciate all of the types of motorsports that I have covered,” Little said. “I just naturally loved racing and I just kind of followed that and I started realizing that there a lot of female fans out here, but there is really no females representing them”

Jamie Little works up and down pit road during the recent NASCAR Nationwide Series race at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth. (Photo by Mark Broughton / bam photo)

Little added, “When I was 18 years old, that literally fueled my passion. I wanted to go after this and tell these stories and not just represent the women, but I want to be a good reporter and share these stories. So there really wasn’t just one person or other women that I admire because there really wasn’t that one woman in my line of work.”

Little said one of the highlights of her television career was being the first female pit reporter in 2004 to cover the Indy 500 for ABC television.

“To me saying that I have covered the Indy 500 is really special,” Little said. “Now I have done 10 of them, that is pretty special in my book. That and becoming part of the super team in NASCAR starting in 2007 has been a really big deal for my career.”

Little said another special moment in her career was in 2011 at the Brickyard 400 when Paul Menard won and she got to go to Victory Lane to conduct the post-race interview.

“I became the first female television reporter to go to Victory Lane with any driver at that track and hallowed ground,” Little said. No woman has ever been there for an Indy 500. To get to go to Victory Lane there was huge and then to do it with Ryan Newman again this year was definitely a highlight and a really big moment.”

Little added, “Every time that I talk about them, I just know that this is history and one day I am going to look back and say that I covered Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson. Anytime that I get to cover them on pit road or go to Victory Lane with them, that is precious to me.”

Jamie Little has been a reporter for ESPN since 2002. (Photo by Mark Broughton / bam photo)

Unfortunately in the world of racing, tragedy can strike at any moment. Little said the hardest story that she ever had to cover was when IndyCar Series driver and two-time Indy 500 champion Dan Wheldon was killed in 2011 while racing at the season-ending race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

“I had to report from the infield care center and then I had to go to the trauma center and report,” Little said. “That was hard, because of all of the drivers out there; Dan was the one driver that I probably got to know the best. He was so fun, wild and crazy. He would come to Vegas and I would have my friends and he would have his and through the years he became just so special. That was hands down the hardest thing that I ever had to go through.”

Little said that she loves the challenges of covering NASCAR for television because you never know what to expect from minute to minute during a live broadcast.

“I’ve always loved being challenged,” Little said. “I love being different. I don’t want to be like everyone else, but at the same time the biggest compliment that I can have is when someone tells me that I am their favorite reporter. When you are considered among the rest of them, that is a good thing.”

A young race fan recently dressed as Jamie Little for Halloween. (Courtesy photo)

Little said one of the things that she loves the most about her job is interacting with the fans. Recently the parents of an eight-year old fan contacted her and said their daughter wanted to be Jamie Little for Halloween. Little said she gave her hints on outfits. The child’s parents went to the Simpson outlet in Texas and had a fire suit made for her. Complete with a headset and microphone, the young lady was able to be her role model.

“That was probably the coolest form of flattery that I have ever experienced,” Little said. It was the cutest thing and she even had the pony tail and everything. That was really neat.”

Little known facts about Jamie:

*In 2013, Little released her first book, “Essential Car Care for Women.”

*Jamie Little is left handed

*Loves fashion, fitness and traveling

*Dream job would be hosting a show like ABC’s Dancing with the Stars.

*Is featured in the video game MX World Tour, which is available on X Box and Playstation (2005)

*Has appeared in two movies: “Fantastic Four” starring Jessica Alba, played herself in the X Games scene (out Summer, 2005) – “Supercross the Movie” starring Darryl Hannah, played herself in the post race.